


Late

by afteriwake



Series: How You Got The Girl [3]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-13 22:38:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4540122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She had been so caught up in the decadent pleasure of finally being with Sherlock that she hadn’t been careful and now she’s late. Upon realizing she is indeed pregnant, she turns to an old friend to figure out just what to do next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Late

**Author's Note:**

> So this takes place about twoish months after "Imprinting Vivid Memories," so there's a bit of a jump. There's going to be another longer jump before the next fic, but then there shouldn't be anymore.

She knew. She knew before she saw the two lines, really. She had known a little while ago but had been in almost utter denial. But she knew she was pregnant before the test had confirmed it. It put her in a rather…interesting…position. There were options, of course. There were always options. She could rid herself of the pregnancy, obviously. She could carry the child to term and put it up for adoption. She could keep the child and raise it in secret, never say a word to him.

Or, she could reach out, see if it was at all possible to find Sherlock, and tell him the truth.

She didn’t _really_ think of herself as the maternal type. She had always been on the selfish side, caring more for herself than others, wanting what she wanted and doing whatever it took to get it. But things had changed since she’d fled the hotel with nothing more than a packet of money and identification and the clothes on her back. She’d started to truly sort out her priorities, decide what was really important to her. She’d looked deep inside her and, to be quite honest, not found much she’d been fond of. It wasn’t often someone like her got a second chance, and so she had decided to make the most of it.

She had thought it might be interesting to have a child. One day. Perhaps. Not on her own, though. She doubted she could do it on her own. She didn’t know if she would slip back to old ways, cause irreparable damage. Motherhood supposedly changed a person for the better, she was told, but she wasn’t sure that would be the case with her, and she wasn’t so selfish that she wanted to risk finding out. So if she did decide to keep the child, she did not want to do this on her own. But was having Sherlock be a part of the child’s life even an option? She knew how dangerous Moriarty had been. She knew a bit about what Sherlock might be up against.

She didn’t want to think about the fact that, already, he might have failed.

She sat on the toilet and stared at the stick in her hands for a long while. She needed advice. She had acquaintances here in Paris; she had thought it best not to let anyone get too close, lest her past come back to haunt her. A certain amount of time in public was fine: a smile and wave and chat with the neighbours, a small conversation with the grocer, gossip with those at the salon. The normal day to day chatter of a normal person. But it was all only on the surface. The only person who had scratched deeper since she had arrived had been Sherlock, and that was because he knew about it.

Finally she reached over for her mobile. She had one option, if she could count on the woman to be discreet. It had appeared Mycroft Holmes believed her to be dead, which meant two people close to him were very good at keeping very large secrets. She doubted Anthea would be able to keep this one for long, though, and she did not expect her to. She pulled up the coded contact and hit send, waiting. It rang three times and went to voicemail. “You have such a pretty voice,” Irene said, which was their code for “We need to speak soon.” And then she hung up and waited, tossing the pregnancy test in the rubbish bin and taking her mobile out to her kitchen.

She was nibbling on some dry toast when her mobile rang. It was Anthea, and Irene answered it after three rings. “I hadn’t expected to hear from you again,” Anthea said.

“You must not be doing a very good job tracking the younger Mr. Holmes, then,” Irene said with a smile. “Or else you would have known he spent a day with me in Paris.”

“And I’m assuming that day meant most of it was in bed?” Anthea asked archly.

“Among other places,” Irene said. She paused, trying to figure out what to say and finally deciding just to drop the bombshell and be done with it. “Andrea, I’m pregnant. With Sherlock’s child.”

“Oh,” Anthea said, sounding shocked. “You weren’t…?”

“I hadn’t given thought to birth control since I’m not involved with anyone here and I haven’t gone back to old ways,” Irene said with a sigh. “The first time just…happened. Spur of the moment. And then the rest…” She hung her head slightly. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Do you want to keep the child?” Anthea asked quietly.

“I think I do,” she said. “I don’t know if I’ll be a good mother, though, and I don’t want to do this alone.”

There was a long pause. “We don’t know where Sherlock is,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Irene asked.

“He went to Russia, after Paris. He’s very deep undercover, and we’ve lost all contact with him. We can try and track him down, bring him back. In this situation I’m sure Mycroft will even do it personally.” Then she paused. “You do realize I’ll need to tell him.”

“He’s going to love that,” Irene said in a slightly bitter tone. “He’ll have The Woman attached to his precious bloodline for the rest of his life.”

“Considering he has absolutely no inclination towards marriage or procreation he might actually be relieved, Irene,” Anthea said. “There will be pressure off his shoulders to continue the family dynasty.”

“I suppose,” she said. “If I do have the child, and Sherlock does want to be a part of this, what happens?”

“We protect you,” Anthea said.

“We being the British government?” Irene asked.

“More or less,” Anthea replied. “Mycroft can pull strings, have your death erased. You _technically_ haven’t committed any crimes so there’s nothing to have to pardon, and I suppose Kate has been managing your funds for you?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Then you’ll have full access to those and all your properties again. And if anyone tries to make a play at you, be it the Americans, the Russians, the Cubans or anyone else you might have angered, Mycroft will squash them and keep you and the child safe.”

Irene considered it. “Even if Sherlock wants no part in raising this child?” she asked.

“Even so,” she said. “And if he doesn’t…well, if he doesn’t then I’ll help.”

Irene’s lips quirked in a smile. “I thought you hated children.”

“I hate diplomat’s children. They’re spoiled, entitled brats. If I help raise your son or daughter I’ll make sure they’re a perfect angel.” Then she paused. “But in all honesty, Sherlock seems to have changed, the few times I’ve dealt with him since he left London. He may surprise you.”

“He already did,” Irene said. “All right. Let’s make arrangements for me to return to London. And I suppose you can do a better job of breaking the news to dear Mycroft than I did breaking it to you.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said in a slightly impish tone. “I may have some fun with it. He did something that angered me recently and I think I deserve a bit of payback. But I’ll make sure he treats you fairly.”

“Then I’ll leave that particular set of details up to you.”

“All right. Don’t worry, Irene. Things will be fine. You’ll see.”

“I’m going to hold you to that, Andrea,” she said. “Good-bye.”

“Good-bye,” Anthea said before hanging up. Irene planted her hands on the counter once she set her mobile down. She was going to keep the baby. That much was decided. Now she just hoped she would have support in this from more than just Anthea, and that they would be able to find Sherlock before too much more time went by. She didn’t want to go through all this alone if she could help it.


End file.
